Sneak peak into designer’s home

I can’t believe it — I’ve been writing this column for four years now! Those of you who have been following along know that whether I’m writing about design in homes, commercial projects or ideas I get from my travels, I love to illustrate my tips with photos. Well, today’s photos are a little different.

Several years ago my family and I finally found our dream home. I immediately knew I would be remodeling and redesigning it to suit our style, and promised I would share photos. But an interesting thing happened.

We moved in last October and while I was thrilled with the results of the nearly yearlong project, I wasn’t ready to share it. I’ve spent years remodeling, redesigning and decorating homes — but always for clients or my own business of flipping homes for resale. Every time, I can’t wait to show people the transformation. The reveal is always an amazing moment.

>> AFTER

This one was different. This was my family’s dream home, the one we’d been waiting years to find. I designed it to reflect our likes and personalities, not to appeal to the broadest segment of potential homebuyers. This one was more personal.

So I waited. In the last year we’ve had lots of friends and family over and thrown our home open to host events and celebrations. And now I’d love to invite you in for a glimpse.

It goes without saying that this has been my favorite design project. There were challenges, fun moments and experiences that turned into lessons along the way. In future columns I’ll be sharing some of these with you.

These first photos are of the front door. There’s a design tip here, and later you’ll find out what I did and why it was important. There’s no more appropriate place to start — after all, I’ll be welcoming you into our home!

Cathy Lee is a home style expert, speaker, president and designer of Cathy Lee Style. Her redesigns of residential and business spaces have been featured in local and national publications and on HGTV. For more info and inspiring photos of design projects, visit cathyleestyle.com. And keep up with Cathy’s dream home makeover at her photo blog, Homefront.